Page 90 of Moon Chosen

O’Bryan and Davis nodded as they chewed their makeshift meal.

“Yeah, something real weird is going on,” Davis spoke around a mouthful of roll. “I know I’m new at this, but I’ve never seen or heard of signs like we’ve been finding.”

“Hey, I’m not a Hunter, but, Nik, you know I’ve been tracking since I was barely old enough to leave the nests, and I’m telling you—whatever’s going on with the Scratchers isn’t good. It’s changed things, and not for the better,” O’Bryan said.

“I’ve been thinking about this. A lot, during the past week especially,” Nik said, careful to begin by agreeing with his two friends. “I want to take a shot in the dark. Just one. Just today. If we still don’t find anything I’ll reevaluate while I’m with the team in Port City.”

Nik watched O’Bryan and Davis share a glance. Davis shrugged and O’Bryan smiled, though Nik was pretty sure it was forced.

“What’s your plan, Cuz?”

“Okay, we’ve searched patterns on the Tribe side of the Scratcher creek, expanding out from where we found the new tracks of the pup two weeks ago.” The two men nodded in agreement. Nik continued, “And we searched the same pattern expanding out from the holly bush on the opposite side of the creek, as well as around the area where the wolf spiders attacked and we killed the male Scratcher that night.”Jenna’s father,Nik added, but only silently.

“Yeah, and the same thing happened over and over,” Davis said. “The sign just stopped.”

“Exactly!” Nik said. “It’s strange, don’t you think?”

“It’s frustrating, that’s for sure,” O’Bryan said as Davis took another bite of roll and nodded. “Maybe what’s going on with the Scratcher males has something to do with it.”

“Well, I suppose that could be, but what if the signs stopped purposely?” Nik said.

The two men sent him questioning looks.

“Hear me out,” Nik said quickly. “We’re looking for a girl who is unusual—who, for whatever bizarre reason, has some vestige of Tribal power, correct?”

“Maybe. I mean, none of us know for sure. Not even you, Nik, and you’re the only one who saw what she did,” Davis said.

“You’re right. This is just supposition, butifshe’s special, andifthe pup is with her we’ve got to at least consider the possibility that she could be intelligent enough to hide the pup’s tracks and be trying to throw us off their trail.”

O’Bryan and Davis stared at him dumbfounded. Nik hastily added. “I know it seems crazy, but the whole thing is crazy.”

“It is that,” Davis said.

“So what do you propose?” O’Bryan asked.

“Let’s change the way we’re thinking about tracking them,” Nik said.

“What do you mean?” Davis said.

“Up until now we’ve been assuming we’re tracking a Scratcher and a pup. Maybe together. Maybe not. But certainly not anyone who could be covering their trail and making any concerted attempt to confuse us. What if we think of tracking her, and the pup, as if they’re part of the Tribe?”

“How so?” Davis sat up straighter, intrigued.

Nik explained. “Let’s pretend like the girl and the pup are Companions, and they’ve run away from the Tribe.”

“Run away from the Tribe? That’s crazy,” O’Bryan said.

“Yep, it is. But we’ve already said this whole thing is crazy, right?” Davis said. “Go on, Nik. You may be on to something.”

Feeling relieved that the Hunter was willing to listen to his odd idea, Nik spoke quickly. “Well, the question is what would you change about the way we’ve been searching if you knew that the person and canine you’re tracking were actively trying to mislead you?”

Davis leaned back, chewing thoughtfully before answering. “Well, I’d stop chasing their tracks, because they were left only to throw Cammy and me off. Instead I’d try to think like whoever was misleading me, and then I’d head in the direction my mind told me to search instead of the direction the tracks were misleading me to go.”

“That’s what we have to do!” Nik said, clapping Davis on the back and causing Cammy to jump around them in excitement. “I think it’s pretty easy to narrow down where weshouldn’tlook anymore.” He opened his pack again and took out the map they’d been following. The two men huddled around him, pointing as they spoke.

“You mean no more looking on the Tribe side of the creek,” O’Bryan said.

“Also no more looking south along the creek at all, even heading into Scratcher territory,” Davis said. “We only found just a few tracks there, mostly in and out of the creek. If we’re imagining that the girl’s trying to mislead us, I’d say those tracks were made to try to draw us in the wrong direction.”